Published: Friday, March 29, 2013 at 8:26 p.m.

Last Modified: Friday, March 29, 2013 at 8:26 p.m.

OSPREY - Stephen King sat quietly, high in the stands, at The Oaks Club on Friday and watched Kristyna Pliskova's personal misery play out before his eyes.

Facts

TOURNAMENT INFORMATION

THE OAKS CLUB $50,000 WOMEN'S PRO CIRCUIT EVENT

WHAT: USTA Women's Pro Circuit tournament

WHEN: Saturday and Sunday.WHERE: The Oaks Club, Osprey

NOTE: The first semifinal match will begin at 1 p.m. The second semifinal will follow.

TICKET INFORMATION: Call 941 966-3605. Tickets available at the gate.

Should the master of the macabre ever need inspiration for another hellish tale, he could have gotten it from the horror show he saw as Spain's Estrella Cabeza-Candela routed Pliskova in the quarterfinals of The Oaks Club $50,000 Women's Pro Circuit Event played here.

The Spanish Inquisition was probably less painful than what Pliskova endured at the hands of Cabeza-Candela. At least it was quick, with the 6-1, 6-0 mismatch lasting less than an hour and the second set taking just 21 minutes.

“I expected a hard match,” insisted Cabeza-Candela. That might have been because she had lost to Pliskova at Brisbane, Australian.

That battle was on hard courts, in January. But Cabeza-Candela was in her element on the clay courts Friday.

Pliskova won the first game of the match. Then it was all Cabeza-Candela. The finish was particularly brutal. Pliskova won just three points combined in the final four games of the match.

“I am very happy with the way I play and the win,” said Cabeza-Candela, who lost here a year ago in the qualifying tournament. Though she reached the quarterfinals of three WTA events last year, Cabeza-Candela said Friday's win may have been her best, coming against a player ranked No. 111 in the world.

“I want to enjoy it making the semifinals,” said Cabeza-Candela, who is 26 and reached a career-high ranking of No. 108 this year.

She is joined in the semifinals by 16-year old Katerina Siniakova, Jana Cepelova and Mariana Duque-Marino, another clay court specialist.

Duque-Marino looked like she would deliver the worst beating of the day when she swept past Julia Cohen 6-0 in the first set of their match. But Cohen, the last American in the draw, would not go quietly and Duque-Marino had to settle for a more pedestrian 6-0, 6-4 win.

“In the second set Julia started to play better and put more balls into the court,” said Duque-Marino. “It was tougher. But I am happy the way I played and at the end I win.”

The 26-year old player from Colombia has shown in the past that she can withstand obstacles thrown her way. In her first experience in a Grand Slam tournament, Duque-Marino made a run all the way to the final of the French Open Junior Championships, despite having her rackets stolen before her first match.

Without any money to buy new rackets, she played, and won, a pair of matches with rackets she borrowed before new ones could be shipped to her by her sponsor.

Duque-Marino's biggest moment on the women's professional stage came three years ago when she won a WTA event in her home town of Bogota.

“I am very happy because I am playing good,” said Duque-Marino, who also lost here in the qualifying tournament last year. “I hope tomorrow I will play better than today.”

She will find out today at 1 p.m. when she plays Siniakova, a 16-year old from the Czech Republic who was the lowest-ranked player in the draw and got into the tournament with a special exemption. Siniakova has quickly shown she has a bright future with her run to the semifinals.

Cabeza-Cadela, meanwhile, will play Cepelova in the match that follows and figures to have a much tougher time than she had with Pliskova.

At least King, who says he loves tennis and tries to play once a week at his home on Casey Key when he can, seemed impressed as he sat at Court No. 3 and watched Cepelova beat Sharon Fichman, the 2009 champion at The Oaks.

“Would you look at that. This is insane,” he said after one point. “If I had to play against one of these girls and had to receive that serve, I would cry.”

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